Chronicles written in tough French and tougher
German have been published in provincial towns, and have scarcely found
their way beyond those localities. Various learned societies and
commissions have edited documents which would be nearly unintelligible
without a wide comparison and complete elucidation. Single, isolated
points have been treated and discussed by those who took for granted a
familiarity on the part of the reader with the general facts of the
case. To combine this mass of evidence, to sift and establish it, and to
weave it into a symmetrical narrative, is the aim of the work before us.
The idea was conceived while the author was engaged in assisting the
late Mr. Prescott in cognate branches of study. That great and generous
writer entered heartily into the project, and made use of the ample
facilities which he is well known to have possessed for the collection
of the necessary materials. The correspondence which he opened for this
purpose led to the belief that he had himself undertaken the task; and
great satisfaction was expressed by the eminent Belgian archivist, M.
Gachard, that a pen which had already given so much delight and
instruction to the world was about to be engaged on so attractive a
theme.
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